Husband faces charges in wife's death

Grief-stricken kin seek answers at arraignment.

Grief-stricken kin seek answers at arraignment.

March 25, 2009|By CAROL DRAEGER Tribune Staff Writer

ST. JOSEPH -- The families of Danny and Tina Stevens filled nearly every bench space in a Berrien County courtroom Tuesday. The large crowd gazed attentively at a nearby television screen where Danny Stevens appeared from jail for a video arraignment on open murder charges. Two evenings earlier, Stevens allegedly shot and killed his wife in an upstairs bedroom of the couple's St. Joseph Township home after an argument, Berrien County prosecutors say. Several hours later on Monday morning Danny Stevens reportedly set their home, at 273 Robbins Ave., on fire. Firefighters discovered Tina Stevens' body after they contained the flames. Danny Stevens, 42, turned himself into police shortly after the fire and confessed to the shooting, St. Joseph Township police chief Ross Bates said, adding that Stevens' "conscience" got to him. On Tuesday Tina Stevens' family wanted to know why. "He wasn't that kind of person," Tamika Catchings, 27, said about her step-father. The couple had been married eight years. Catchings was inconsolable. She cried uncontrollably inside and outside the courtroom. "She was a good person. Everybody liked her and loved her," Catchings said about her mother. "She had no enemies," she said. "We're shocked," added Tina Stevens' mother, Geraldine Hudson. She said her daughter was hard-working and a regular churchgoer at First Assembly of God in St. Joseph. Hudson said she wanted to talk to her son-in-law to ask him why. "We were all like family," she said. No one from Danny Stevens' family wanted to comment. But many were visibly as shook up as Catchings. Many women in the courtroom sobbed quietly as they listened to Berrien County Judge Angela Pasula read three charges against Stevens. He faces life in prison if convicted of murdering his wife. He faces 20 years in prison if convicted of count 2, setting his house on fire to cover up a crime scene. Stevens also was charged with felony firearm for allegedly using a pistol to shoot Tina, 47. Pasula denied bond pending Stevens' preliminary hearing on April 1 at 8:30 a.m. Staff writer Carol Draeger: cdraeger@sbtinfo.com (574) 807-2941